Government mum on Armier shacks
No answer to PQ over government’s stand on pre-1992 illegal boathouse dwellings at Armier.
A parliamentary question asking Minister Mario de Marco on the government's stand with regards to illegal boathouses built before 1992 remained unanswered for the past three months.
While the government has often declared its stand that all post-1992 boathouses have to be demolished, the status of the other boathouses remains unclear.
Backbencher Jesmond Mugliett asked de Marco whether the government intends to approve the Marfa Action Plan which proposes the reconstruction of the Armier beach rooms and has been pending since 2002.
On 5 March, de Marco replied by saying that "a reply will be given in another parliamentary sitting". But no answer has been given in subsequent sittings.
The government has signed two separate pre-electoral agreements which had been signed a few days before the general elections of both 2003 and 2008.
The 2008 agreement signed 19 days before the general election renewed a pledge signed eight days before the 2003 election, to hand over 230 tumuli of public land in Armier to Armier developments on a 65-year lease against an annual Lm157,000 (€350,000) payment.
Asked by MaltaToday in January whether the government is still bound by these agreements, a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister replied that "the letter dated 18 February 2008 included certain conditions that to date have not yet been fully addressed".
The promise to hand over land to Armier Development Limited depends on the approval of permits by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority which still has to approve the Marfa Action Plan which sets parameters for development in the area. The approval of the draft plan has been pending since 2002.
In January, MEPA had turned down an application by Enemalta to build a substation in Armier aimed at providing the shacks with a secure supply of electricity.
During the meeting Armier lobbyist Tarcisio Barbara invoked the agreement signed with the Prime Minister before the election. But Sandra Magro, who chairs MEPA's Environment Planning Commission, made it clear that MEPA is bound by existing policies which do not envision any development in the area.
An agreement signed between the Labour Party and Armier Developments Limited in 2002 and 2007 states that all beach rooms in a good state should be retained, while those in a bad condition rebuilt at the squatters' expense. Questions sent by MaltaToday on whether Labour will renew this agreement were never answered.
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